Tell us Plainly by Mary E. Guilford

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 29, 1871

“Tell us Plainly.”

By Mary E. Guilford

A SKEPTIC remarked, not long since, that “Jesus himself never told us that he was the Saviour.” Said he, “We have to take the testimony of others for it.” Such remarks denote a very limited knowledge of the Scriptures. No one at all conversant with the language of Christ, can fail to understand that he acknowledged himself to be the Saviour of the world. On the night of his betrayal, when they led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where all the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, were assembled, the high priest said unto him, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am; and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14: 61, 62. He declared himself to be the Messiah (the Saviour.—Web), John 4:25, 26, to be the Son of God, John 9:37; 10:36, and in Luke 19:10, he tells us that he was come “to seek and to save that which was lost.” If he came to save, how can he be otherwise than a Saviour?

The unbelieving Jews said to Jesus, “If thou be the Christ tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not.” What plainer evidence do we need than these testimonies, combined with the miracles which he performed, to prove the divine origin and mission of Jesus Christ? But the skeptics of our day, like the unbelieving Jews, will not be convinced. They prefer darkness rather than light.

Jesus endured a life of toil and suffering, and shed his precious blood to redeem a sinful, fallen race, and restore them to favor with God. But many deny him and spurn the Holy One of Israel. The love of God dwells not in their hearts. Says

Jesus in mournful pathos, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40.

We need not hesitate to accept the Scripture testimonies in reference to Christ’s mission upon the earth, for he bears witness himself to their truthfulness in John 5:39, where he admonishes us, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.” Instead of filling the mind with doubts and cavil, let us strive to be more like the noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so; and may we learn to be “not faithless, but believing.”

MARY E. GUILFORD.

Castalia, Ohio.